A Chilly Tuesday in Sydney

It's Tuesday morning here in chilly Sydney - yes that's right, I'm in Sydney - but I'm managing to stay warm with the heater on at dad's place, my step mothers wool sweater on, the spare slippers on my feet (yep they've got them for when we come to stay), and both nettle tea and Nespresso next to me.

I've flown down for the P!nk concert (which is on tonight and I am super duper excited - pics will be in my newsletter this Friday and no doubt all over Instagram, Twitter and Facebook) but I always extend a Sydney trip a few extra days to see friends, family, and jet all town visiting, seeing and eating my way through all my favourite spots. So allow me to relive my past few days with you...

+ French Forest Markets; every Sunday this has to be my all-time favourite markets ever! Loads of people always go making this a bustling morning (or midday trip) amongst friends and loved ones. And by loved ones I mean green juices and smoothies, wood smoked salmon steaks, organic produce, superfoods and herbs, tea and coffees, fresh artisan breads, books, music, crystals and so so much more.

Photo from here

+ Bondi; usually to see my best friends and owners/creators/crazy-amazing-business-peeps of Simply Raw bars, but as we couldn't tee up a proper long catch up this time, I sneakily dropped by, buzzed their door, and ran in for hugs and kisses before having to race off again. I also met a girlfriend for takeaway lunch from The Suv(eran), spent the following 90 minutes sitting in pure warm sunshine by the lake at Centennial Park munching away and chatting about life and lessons, before a Bondi walk with Mel (from Path to Wellness), and a look-see at our country's most famous beach. Bliss.

+ Home; this was always mum's place and the home I grew up in for over 20 years, but now it's a new home as mum has moved to warmer sea breezes in the Sunny Coast, and Dad, once in chilly beautiful Bowral, is back in Sydney with my step-mum. So they are in a new place also. There has been a lot of moving in my family but wherever we are, if we are together, it's all good. Having a place to stay, sleeping in big cozy doonas, lazying on the lounge or out in the sun, getting cuddles, eating amazing food, and being surrounded by loved one's makes my life worthwhile.

That's my set-up this morning - not bad hey?

+ Crows Nest; Ingredients For Health (my old beloved job) and Taste Organics (where any new amazing product will definitely be found - like Botanical Cuisine's delicious goodies), as well as bumping into old faces, feel-good cafes, chilling on the grass with friends and new babies, chasing the magpies and thus getting shat on - yes it happened to me. But it's good luck isn't it?

+ Run arounds; always exhilarating! I get such a thrill from knowing I've gotta go here, then there, then over there to see friends, buy things, eat things, or whatever it may be, in and around Sydney. But my sister's zippy little car with an amazing sound system, I have to admit, it a huge part of the thrills for me. Singing, wind in my hair, high on life... I'm sure some of you can relate to this strange little pleasure of mine. Cairns is loads quieter and calmer (and our car stereo is crappola) so the difference is obvious and FUN!
Ducking in for hellos with my yoga teacher, dropping by elsewhere to buy a brand new fancy-pants yoga ma (I am soooo excited to get down and do my dog people!!), tea in the sun with my cousin here, catch up with girls there, loads of chatting, laughing, seeing friends with gorgeous little babies (ooh is it getting to that time already..?), totally lapping up this sunshine, hello, is this not amazingly gorgeous here right now?

So a trip to Sydney town is always loaded with fun, good food, friends, family, and sunshine. The way life is meant to be. And I'm grateful to be living life the way I love too.

Christie xx

Find Food Shopping a bore? 7 Ways to Love It Again.

I often have people (females) ask me how they can make shopping for food a fun thing; a pleasurable experience and not something that is merely a means to an end (ie. mindlessly walking supermarket aisles to put junk in the trolley to later store in the pantry).

So, as I lurve doing our shopping I thought I'd give you a few tips and tricks to make your weekly food shop fun, exciting, a total full on experience and something that you even look forward too, and not dread. So here we go...

+ Shop with a loved one; Whether it's clothes shopping, seeing a movie, hitting the beach or the gym, we all know most things are more fun when shared with a partner, best friend or family member. This includes grocery shopping. I always shop with B and we make an experience of it and have a ball wherever we go. I know if I did it on my own, I'd likely zip through and just want to get it done. No fun.

+ Get to your local growers market; this is what got me going every week to initially buy organics over the other stuff (yay) and got me buying new and different veggies each week. Then it became so much more; I would also always bump into someone I knew, have a hug/juice/coffee/tea/nibble/etc. I eagerly looked forward to a litre of amazing green juice I could get, and made an entire morning of chatting, shopping, trying new things and basking in the Sunday morning sunshine.

+ Get to other markets; venturing a little further to see what other areas near you offer is always a load of fun. In Sydney, Frenchs Forest was always my local fav, but every-now-and-then I'd end up at Pyrmont, Everleigh or Kings Cross. It jazzed it up a little, got me seeing and buying even more new foods and products, bumping into other friends around town, and had me see different areas of Sydney. Now up in Cairns we drive north to visit Port Douglas or up the range to Kuranda for a change of scenery and always have loads of fun.

+ Get to know who you buy your food from; when forming relationships with the people who you get your groceries from, they love seeing you again and again. They also throw in freebies every now and then, are happy to give you recipes and cooking advice, and can often get you something you ned but can't find anywhere else.

+ Have a cook-up night with friends; again, this will encourage you to shop fresh and have new recipes to try. Sharing conversation over food is one of my all time favourite things to do, and the meals shared are always changing as everyone wants to impress and experiment. Trust me, in starting something like "Friday Friends night" you'll sure be eating some of the best food ever in no time.

+ Put aside a new recipe (or more) each week to try; this gets your taste buds excited and will also help you with meal prep, which can at times be tricky. When I find a recipe I want to try, my whole body is like YUM!!! And then I can't wait to get the ingredients, prepare it, taste it and share it.

+ Ditch all large chain supermarkets; shopping at small organic grocers, weekend markets and health food shops, you're helping the locals stay in business, getting fresh healthy foods, have way less processed options to tempt you, engage in super cool conversations, and you can get everything you would otherwise get from the big guys anyways. There's also a beautiful thing about shopping at markets and smaller stores. Those big guys have it all set up for us to buy, buy, buy, and end up with a whole lotta rubbish we don't need.

So there you go. My tips to making food shopping loads of fun each and every week.
If you have your own tips and tricks, or other things you try, I would love to know what you get up too.


Christie xx


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My favourite things to do in Sydney

Last week I was lucky enough to get down and visit my home in Sydney - even if it was to pack up my entire life into boxes at my mums house before she leaves and rents the house out (think 25yrs of stuff needing to find a home in a box - manic!). I arrived to beautiful weather and amongst my mad-packing that I knew I had ahead of me, I made sure I had time to fit in a few of my favourite things whilst there...

Views of Sydney Harbour are like no other, and my dad was staying at Kirribili for the weekend so I had this magnificent view to oggle over, before Thai lunch with everyone - my big sis Nikki was in town for literally 2hrs between international flights, so we tee-ed up lunch with dad; who has always been overseas for work the weekend of October 19th (his birthday), mum and my little sister Lisa; both who hadn't seen Nikki in months; our step-sister Amy who lives hours away from everyone and our little nephew Callum, who has never met Nikki! So in the short meal we shared before Nikki had to bolt back to the airport, we all had a ball.

I went out with mum on Sunday morning to the Frenchs Forest Markets which are my absolute favourite!! The colourful buzz about, fresh produce abounds, juices, smoothies, Asian foods, natural lotions and potions, superfoods, baked breads, cookies and treats, elixirs, honey, massage, coffee and more! Everyone walks around saying hello to people they know, munching on their weekly favourite and grinning ear to ear. I got the organic green juice I love, we tried new organic raw honey, got the best macadamia nuts in Australia (Hand N' Hoe Organic Macadamias), and the most delicious raw apple crumble from Flawless Foods. These girls are amazing and their food will have every taste bud in your mouth having a party! Their goodies are sold at the Supafeast stand, and what's even better, is that they change things up every week!

After  my market fun, my girlfriend picked my up  for my all-time favourite yoga class; a 90 minute vinyasa power flow yoga class in St Leonards. My yoga teacher, friend, and mentor is the instructor for the class, and after sweating, stretching, twisting, flowing, bending, balancing and calming my thoughts, I leave on top of the world! I'm blessed that I could see him twice more before I left Sydney too!! (if you're interested and near by, he is offering a free-week pass to new students here)

Later on I caught up with all my old work girls for afternoon tea and chit chats before a relaxing evening at home, happy that 90% of my boxes at home were packed :)

My 2nd last day was pre-planned weeks before and that was to spend the entire day with my two best friends; the creative kitchen geniuses behind the Simply Raw bars. I drove over to beautiful Bondi at 730am after yoga and stopped to take in the stunning ocean and breathe in all the fresh sea air I could, before heading over for brekkie smoothies at their place.

Bondi Beach

Me feeding the chickens across the road

We fuelled our bodies with delicious juice and smoothies and sat all morning catching up on everything that's going on in our lives. And for lunch, we were going up to Earth to Table - Sydney's first raw vegan cafe! I know I'm not alone in shouting out FINALLY! We're a bit behind the 8-ball. But it is here; well it is there (in Sydney) and every time I visit now I've got somewhere I can choose anything off the menu to eat, enjoy it, LOVE it, and leave feeling amazing! Julie Mitsios from Conscious Choice is the wonder-woman behind this little gem up on Bronte Rd, and has decked out the place so it is simplistic-elegance. But you'll have to be patient and wait until my next post for all the mouth-watering pics and food reviews, as it wouldn't do it justice meshing them all in with this post.

We spent the rest of our afternoon lazying around on the beach, getting some sunshine, laughing and being silly before the "see you later's" instead of the dreaded "goodbye's". I'll be back in Sydney in less than a month! And the morning before my flight, mum and I both managed to have time free to grab some brekkie together and have a nice long (proper) girly chit chat :)

My girl Janine and I chillin' at Bondi Beach

Brekkie out with my beautiful mum

Remember to stay tuned or sign up for email alerts for the upcoming post and food-porn pics from Earth to Table; Sydney's first raw vegan cafe.

Until then... Love and Light :)

Paradise in Cairns Part 2

The produce there was INCREDIBLE!

At RUSTYS MARKETS !! The 3-day markets that are on in the middle of town every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I absolutley LOVE this place! I literally spent 3 days there!

A short drive from Nikki's place, after we had our green smoothies and did our walk, we got out shopping bags and headed on in. Rusty's is un under-cover market selling mainly fresh local fruit and veg, but you can also find organic cheeses and yoghurts, coffees and teas, home made cakes, olives, hot food, books, clothes, even massage beds!  I was in Heaven!

Kang Kong! I had never seen it anywhere before and I LOVE it!

Organic bananas

So many beautiful apples - although I didnt buy any! I went all out on the troical fruits though :)

We wandered up and down the aisles as Nik showed me all her favourites stalls; where she usually gets her delicious bush grown local tomatoes from...
where she sometimes grabs a slice of cheese or two for some nibblies with her partner...
her favourite (and best priced) avocado guy (who lets you taste some sprinkled with a little chilli salt and a squeeze of lemon) omg...
We were tasting everything else as we walked around too coz all the growers have things cut up to taste which is AWESOME coz then you end up buying what you like the best!
But what I loved most was how Nikki was telling me about her weekly ritual when she comes down to the markets - after her initial wander to check out prices and produce, she grabs a vegie samosa with date and tamarind chutney nice and hot from the Hari Krishnas, having a short chin-wag with the beautiful woman that works there... Then she goes to Billy's (who's positioned perfectly next door) for her rice milk mocha and a laugh with him and the girls, before plonking her bum down to read the paper and watch the world go by...

So Nikki got her samosa, got her coffee, I ordered a short black from Billy, and we plonked our bums down watching the world go by...
I loved that :) I love rituals full stop! I love that they make us so happy regardless of what they are...

I know I loved my walk to the espresso bar for my quick shot and short Italian verbal exchange when I was living in Italy... I love that Thursday mornings is gym class at 6am coz it's my absolute favourite - regardless of how many others I do (or don't do), that one is my favourite... Getting down to the markets on a Sunday, followed by yoga (or post-beach when its warmer)... And for the past 2 weeks I'm really excited to say that one new ritual of mine is DAILY yoga, every morning before brekkie. That's huge for me! And I'm LOVING it!

The friendly exchange

We bought greens, fruits, vegies... chatted with local growers about their produce, whether or not they use chemicals (alot don't which is awesome!), tried and tasted their scruptious offerings, and had our thinking caps on over-drive as to what delicious creations we were going to come up with when we got home...

Cabbage and kale salad alongside one very very spicy papaya salad with lots of avo

Kang Kong salad baby!! Great Friday night movie dinner!

One of our green brekkie bowl/smoothies

Banana, coconut and brazil milk thickshake!! So good!

Fresh brekkie smoothies mmm

(We didn't make all that on Friday just so you know... these are our creations over a few days hehe)

Saturday morning instead of doing our own yoga at home we went to a class Nikki goes to each week in town. It was in a beautiful open room, the teacher was wonderful and very thorough in her instruction. After just over an hour of long held stratches, bends, and inversions, Nikki and I wafted out with a few organic passionfruits in tow... on our way to Rusty's again (I was ready for my espresso from Billy) ! I got me a BIG coconut as well (I think the coffee hurt my head a little - not surprising when you're not used to drinking it)

We bought more produce, did some more sampling (you can't resist), more smiles and laughter shared, more people-watching done, more love around... : ) It was my final full day in Cairns so for dinner we had a last minute ENTHUSIASM to do something different!

Nikki has a HUGE basil bush in her back yard... and eggplants growing... we had bought amazing local tomatoes... any ideas so far?
Well we decided in the afternoon sunshine beaming through the kitchen windows we would begin mucking about and come up with some sort of a lasagna/moussaka/layered vegie dish that would taste AMAZING!! (I've had cravings to make one for ages now - you can check out other throw-together ones I've done here and here)

Step 1 - throwing tomatoes, garlic, onion, bit of basil, splash of olive oil and a pinch of salt into the blender = napolitana sauce!


Step 2 - throw copious amounts of basil leaves from the garden into the blender along with garlic, macadamia nuts, olive oil and salt... to find nothing happens... (Nikki doesn't have a food processor)... and then move it to the mortar and pestle to grind it down with alot of loving elbow grease = pesto!

Pesto getting smooshed

Step 3 - an avocado with lemon and chilli mashed in a bowl = guac!

Step 4 - sliced garden eggplants marinated in olive oil = well, marinated eggplant!

And VOILA!

Add some sliced broccoli, kale leaves, whatever you fancy and layer it all together! Nikki whipped up a cheesy sauce using nutirtional yeast flakes, drizzled it ontop. I threw together a side salad using our kang kong and extra brocc, then we took pretty picture before adding extra cheesy sauce, extra napolitana sauce, extra basil pesto... haha THE WORKS!

And god it was good! The perfect end to a brilliant week - but not before a quick last minute dash to Rusty's Sunday morning for coffee and some more fruit to smuggle back home !!

Paradise in Cairns Part 1

The Esplanade

This morning I was sitting in the living room with my trakkies and dressing gown on, slippers on my feet, heater warming the house up, sipping warm water with ginger and honey, feeling a little under the weather. Now I'm in a singlet, heater off, doors and windows open, fresh air flying around with the sun shining (this time with licorice in my warm water). Having just returned from a week up in Cairns visiting my big sister there for the first time, I could go so far to say I might just move there! Lucky for me I get to re-live it all again in blogging to you guys (and if you'd like a totally different spin on the series of fortunate events check out Nikki's blog here).

Morning walk down the Esplanade

Happily on college holidays right now, I was more than ready to get away for a week! The flight only takes a couple of hours and the views on flying when you get there are breathtaking! Over HUGE mountains that literally drop to nothing at sea level and snake around the coastline to what is Cairns. It's a very flat place which makes for great bike riding and walking tracks. Nikki greeted me at the airport early Monday morning, with great big hugs, warm sunshine, and an organic Cairns banana (noone knows you like your sisters). After a long-way-round-drive back to her place to take in the esplanade, we dumped my things and then ... well just chilled. I suppose that's all we did all week!

No real agenda set for the day (or any other), we ventured out to find fruit and veg! I wanted to see all the local organic places, stock up on supplies and start from there. The markets are on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays but having arrived on Monday (note to self - next time fly in on Friday and stay till the following Monday for 2 weekends of markets), we had to shop at the local stores. And when Nikki took me here - um well exceitment central (she looks pretty excited too)!!

Nikki at Neils Organics

We stocked up on greens, kales, spinach, cabbage, vegies, and delicious fruits - dragonfruit, papaya, persimmons, pineapple, avocadoes, bananas...and later made a salad with a few bits n pieces...

But not before we drove to check out the "Fruit Bat"; a little side-of-the-road vendor a small Thai lady operates. Her prices are great, her produce even better, and when I spotted these babies I was close to hysterical!!

BLACK SAPOTES!

I had only ever heard amazing things about this fruit but never seen or had one myself. I am a HUGE fan of mamey saoptes which are in the same family so was sure I'd like these. They weren't ready to eat but that didn't stop me from buying half a dozen to wait until they were... until they turned BLACK!

Black Sapote deliciousness

And then OMG! The texture is like a mamey - which is kinda like an avocado. So it's really soft. Although a little softer even - like a really really ripe avo. It melts in your mouth.Think chocolate mousse. Nicknamed the "chocolate fruit" you can see why. It even smells a little like chocolate when it's ripening. The taste is probably as close as a fruit could get to tasting like chocolate, but having said that, it tastes nothing like a block you'd buy from the store. I was in Heaven slowly scooping out mouthful by mouthful...

Then decided to make somthing a little spesh for Nikki and I to enjoy for brekkie. I've made similar versions loads of times before but wanted to show Nik how quick and easy it is - whether it's brekkie, arvo tea or dessert - chia pudding is a staple recipe I use all the time, mixing up the fruits, spices, and added extra yummy bits I've got on hand to amke it different everytime.

Layers of chia-brazil nut milk-gel, cacao nibs, goji berries, sliced bananas, and BLACK SAPOTE!

The rest of our week was filled with warm weather, rain patches, and  starting our days with yoga each morning, then making green smoothies pondering where our day would take us...  We lazed about reading, and chatting in afternoon breezes that gently swept through the house when it was raining outside... We laughed hard about stupid little nothings that sisters do so easily when they've spent way too long apart... We got busy making amazing salads with new ingredients, experimenting in the kitchen with backyard produce (more to come!!)... We walked 'round town (to the point where I now know my way 'round town - sure sign I'm a local)... and spent quite a bit of time blissing out on locally made dark chocolates (ginger bark mmm, lemon myrtle buds, chilli warming chocolate pods omg, even cacao-covered-cacao-beans!!) whilst drinking coffee... wait what?!?!

(yep - you heard me - I said drinking COFFEE! Now neither Nikki or I drink coffee really. Well once in a blue moon for me, maybe a teeny bit more often for Nik, but on the whole it's very rare... despite my forever long deep immense LOVE for the stuff, and having worked as a barista for years... personally I have pros and cons in regards to coffee; alot of pros, and alot of cons, but whilst in Cairns with amazing local organic coffee, it is a bean after all, I only drink it straight up and black, we both indulged and loved loved LOVED our little coffee fixes every few days - one certain coffee fix took us down memory lane of our travels overseas and had us laughing so hard, we had the shop owner laughing with us, 5 shots of coffee between us and 2 or 3 hours later...).

We had lunch at The Lilypad mid-week (amazing little hippy cafe serving loads of colourful food, stax of vego options, an awesome hand painted tables, chairs and artwork floating about) and my taste buds were blissing out on this monstrosity of a salad splashed with an amazing soy sesame dressing. Nikki had a delicious lentil burger that you can see she thoroughly enjoyed also.

We took a road trip up the ranges to Kuranda and Mareeba on Wednesday I think... The drive is round and round, and turning, and a bend, and around...

we had to stop mid way to re-callibrate our brains, and take in the breathtaking views of course...

Looking down into Cairns 

When we got to Kuranda we got out to stretch our legs and have a wander. It's the cutest little town (rather touristy though). Small gift shops, local honey, markets, and everything (stereo)typically Australian to munch on - crocodile, emu, and kangaroo burgers and pies, anzac cookies, lamingtons, even banana mango smoothies! Yay for the fellow fruit munchers!

I was happy with my nashi pears and a few nuts, Nikki with a hot vegie pastie as we sat in the park, but it was kinda cool to see tourists really enjoying the local food - Aussie girl through and through, but I don't think I've ever seen an emu burger in my life!

We tried some honey (garlic infused!) and bought our favourites (avocado honey!) before we set off again, stopping at Coffee Works plantation for a sticky beak (they grow, mix, roast, pack and serve many different varieties of coffee along with some of the best tasting chocolates I've ever had the pleasure of tasting considering it's hard to find great vegan choccies). But a girl can't live off chocolate and coffee alone... and yes, we did try :)

Next stop was Skybury; a huge farm that grows papayas and bananas, as well as coffee (ever watch Farmer Wants A Wife? One of the farmers from the last season owns this joint - mum was a big fan).
We drove along a red dirt road for a bit, passing rows and rows and rows of beautiful papaya trees. There seemed to be noone in coo-ey it was so quiet when I stepped out of the car to take some piccies. Fresh country air and warm afternoon breeze...

We were only a 2 minute drive from the farm but I suppose mid-week there's not laot of people about (perfect). We parked the car, did the whole tourist stretch thing on hopping out, and headed over to the entry; already knowing we'd be spending time there. We wanted good coffee, some arvo tea, (which sure you can get anywhere) but we chose Skybury mainly for the view.

Not a bad spot to stop for coffee hey?

Not bad scones either I believe

On the way out I had to grab me some lady finger bananas and hand picked papayas - I mean at $2.50/kg how could you resist? I loved how they were sitting there in boxes with an old-fashioned scale and an "Honest Box" to throw your money in once you did your own weighing and calculations. I picked a few un-ripe-er nanas for late, but made sure I got a few ready-to-eat-me-now nanas too, coz (as expected) once I got to the car, it was nana time! Creamy, soft and so delicious!

But that's certaintly NOT where the banana fun stopped! When Friday morning rolled 'round it was MARKET TIME in town and boy-o-boy was I excited! You all know how much I love my markets! I live for markets! I could spend everyday at a different market I LOVE them! Only pity is I don't always have the time to get 'round to them all in Sydney.
And with fresh produce from local growers, buzz and chatter, conversations with friendly folk, tasting everyone's bounty they are more than happy to share... why wouldn't you love markets?

So I'm going to save them for another day! They deserve all the attention they can get (along with the delectable dishes we made from all our produce)... Keep your tongues in. Recipes to come...

My Wellness Weekend

So if I were to be totally honest with you guys (not that I'm not usually) Id briefly mention that I've been struggling personally for the past month, and over the weekend I hit a deeper low, which led to me doing things I am not proud of. My past has seen me very easily slip into periods where I stop looking after myself. In every way, shape and form.
Was I aware of all this? Yes and no. But a few days ago, I knew I needed to do something that would gently put me back on the path of healing.

So my weekend was this - backyard nude sunbaking, big green salads, juices, running through soft sand, yoga, beautiful talks with a close friend, crying to my mum who I hadn't seen in weeks, reading, journalling, creativity in the kitchen, sungazing, getting in the ocean, studying (hey; it had to be done)... and now I'm back on my healing path even if it still feels a little akward and tricky to stand up on.

And given everything I'm so passionate about, healing can have so much more benefit if teamed up with great, simple, easily-digestible foods. So here's where I started Saturday morning. A quick, easy, delicious brekkie when you're wanting something different to your regular smoothie - a Superhero Brekkie!!

Put a tablespoon or two of chia seeds in your bowl and add coconut water, plain water, nut milk, or whatever liquid is your current fav, and stir in in and let it sit for 5 or 10 mins. Then add anything and everything you like! I've got sprouted buckwheat, pepitas, sunflower seeds, goji berries, bee pollen, activated almonds, cinnamon, cacao, coconut, and yummy scrummy banana! Keeps me going and going and going and going...

Or something a little different if you plan ahead - you can start whipping up some gRAWnola mid-week for a weekend treat! I had some in the dehydrator all last week that I'll post for you guys in a few days. Apple-cranberry-walnut grawnola! SO GOOD! Just gotta blend me up some brazil nut milk to go with it! Ooh, or maybe I'll try hemp seed milk... hmmm.... yum either way... ok now I'm hungry again.

And the rest of my weekend (aside from the nude sunbaking, study, yoga, chats with people etc)...

Sunday morning I ventured down to Curl Curl before dawn to catch the sunrise. There were quite a few surfers out as well as one guy doing some fishing, and we were all starting our day with Mother Nature, who was giving us her absolute best. Pinks and purples in the sky. A gentle breeze. Warm weather.

I ran up and down the beach a few times through the soft sand , working up a good sweat, before the sun began to rise from the horizon...

Out of this world! It was absolutley stunning. I sat there sun gazing before getting in the surf and feeling the cleansing healing properties of the salt water I love so so much.

I had felt that it was exactly what I needed (even though a big part of me felt I should have been utlising the time to study for an exam I had today) and I was right. It felt nothing short of perfect for me. I needed the reflection time. The grounding time. The salt water and sea breeze. My soul belongs at the beach, in the sand, in the surf. With the sun on my skin, I'm never more alive and it does something to me I can't describe. And as the sunshine then decided to say it's goodbye for the reminder of Sunday only a short 30minutes later, it made my getting out of bed at 530am all the more worthwhile.

Next stop - Frenchs Forest Organic Markets to grab a few things. And I was so lucky to run into Maya doing her shopping, and then Jess and Will who were also doing theirs.

Organic baby plums, nectarines, peaches, pears, grapes... (if you want a really great read on organics that my nutrition class spoke in length about last week check out Kate's blog)


Loads of fresh herbs, plants, lettuces... I grabbed some Scottish kale that I LOVE so much, some rockmelon, green apples, pears, alfalfa and bananas... as well as lemon and ginger KOMBUCHA! YUM! (will post more about this and the fermented cabbage and miso I've been into the past few days soon also)

Chatted to a few peeps I used to see there each week when I got down reguarly (things have been hectic for a while I havn't gotten down!) and we exchanged stories, smiles, laughs, and more. I love it down there :)

And with a few of my ingredients I made this last night for dinner - kale, alfalfa, carrots, celery, avocado, sultanas, olive oil and tumeric. Amazing if I do say so myself. A must try! Tumeric is a fantastic anti-inflammatory so great for any coughs and colds starting to appear, and really good for arthritis or joint inflammation. Just incase you're interested ;)

Look after yoursevles and one another. Live. Laugh. Peace and Love to you all from the bottom of my heart xx